BTW, Philly fans are "disintrested" about the Sixers right now, but are more than willing to jump on a winning bandwagon.

But trading away the #2 pick solely to save money would risk turning off an entire generation of fans. I for one would look for another team to follow, since it would mean that this ownership puts dollars way above winning.

Over the last year I was all for dumping Brand's contract to rebuild. But trading away a potential franchise player (#2 pick) is not rebuilding, it is charity.

The Sixers would have traded Igoudala and Dalembert for McGrady's expiring if they were given a mandate to cut salary immediately. Remember the Sixers have roughly 22 mil coming off the books after next season. My feeling is they will do nothing this offseason but draft Turner. Chad Ford knows nothing about the Sixers if he thinks Igoudala is a 2. Igoudala played five years at the three.

This guy deserves to be fired for incompentency. DC stated that this will take time and he does not believe in short cuts. He stated clearly that his only goal this year is to make the playoffs, 41-45 wins. He wants to get the young guys in there to get experience.

Just finished watching the presser. Impressed with Collins, if nothing else, he studied what happened here last season and hit all the hot button issues w/ me. Kind of like, "Eddie Jordan was a complete f'ing moron. Don't worry, I won't make the mistakes he made with this team."

He sure does seem to have a hardon for improving this team, which is a head-over-heels improvement from that corpse we had coaching our team last year.

Also ES was talking about a hypothetical back-court when talking about what our #2 pick paired with Jrue would amount to. Unless we are planning to trade down past 4, I don't see any back court players in that range. That paired with Collins' no quick fix means we take Turner.

Thoughts on the Collins press conference:
- I was a big fan of the Collins signing from the beginning, and his initial comments did nothing to dissuade me from that stance. He is both knowledgeable and articulate, and that combination will serve him well in communicating with the press and, more importantly, with his players.
- As others have noted, it was great that he emphasized the defensive identity of the team first. "Defend and run" -- we'll be hearing that a lot, I think.
- I like that the first item he talked about was getting players who had down years (he mentioned Brand and Thad specifically) in a better frame of mind and feeling good about themselves. When in the past year was a player's mindset a consideration for Coach Jordan? (one of many reasons EJ was a historically bad coach)
- I love his discussion about defending the 3, and he talked about how the Lakers and the Celtics were having success this postseason because of that in particular. The Sixers haven't had a top-level 3-point defense since -- well, forever. I'm glad it's a point of emphasis at least.
- I liked that he emphasized "no quick fixes." Unlike what the idiotic Chad Ford article implies, it doesn't seem like Collins is under a "win now" mandate (although, to be fair, we'll see what happens if he doesn't hit at least .500 his first season). Collins mentioned that teaching would be first priority. He also said that winning a championship wouldn't be the initial goal, but rather "being relevant" by playing a good brand of basketball.
- As others have mentioned, Collins emphasized that he fits his coaching to his players, not the other way around.
- Finally, when someone asked Collins what it would take for Iguodala to reach his full potential, his answer was perfect: become a first-team all-NBA defender, and emphasize taking the ball to the basket more and drawing fouls (which would then allow the defense to re-set -- there's the emphasis on defense again).

Out of the many qualities I'd like to see in an ideal coach, Collins definitely has the communication aspect down. We'll see as time goes on whether the other aspects translate to wins ...

Agreed. well put, i think collins has been put in a good situation and can use his teacher/motivational type karma and let the kids play. Turner /jrue / with high bball iq to run this team in the half set

Good recap stat. Very good. I like what collins has top say and I am excited about the move.
I like what he thinks Iguodolas strengths are and hopefully he will convince him to focus on them instead of being "the man". Which he clearly isnt/...the only concern I would have is if Iggy goes into some shell because he isnt getting the ball enough(think when Iverson was here) and it hurts the rest of his game. The beauty of the 2000 team was that everyone knew their role. Let AI score 50 a game and we will play tough D and rebound. Hopefully Collins can get these guys to buy into their roles, whatever they may be.

I don't think Iguodala will go into a shell, but it should make for an interesting dynamic. Iguodala has been the main guy for a while now. Its one thing to defer to a vet like Miller, but its another when you are talking about Jrue and Turner.

Iguodala is in his prime and I'm sure he views himself as a top NBA player. Hopefully all three will click and there will be good chemistry. They all share the ball, but I'm sure they all also want to be able to create. Should be an interesting challenge to find the right balance.

For those that think Collins is "out of touch" with the current NBA...he spouted off all kinds of statistics off the top of his head about a handful of current teams. He said he prepares for each TNT game as if he were coaching both teams. The guy is not at all out of touch. Once again, great signing. Only thing is that he's being unrealistic about is EB being a focal point of this roster. Unless Collins has knowledge of some miracle surgery to repair Eltons broken body, I think that ship has sailed.

Ed Snider, when asked if he's bothered by people saying the Sixers are in the Flyers' shadow): "I can understand people saying it because we haven’t had success, but I’m a little embarrassed about a lot of things that happened last year, so I understand their frustration. From my point of view, I work just as hard on both of these franchises. We’re not scrimping in any way, shape or form. We want to win. Listening to Doug Collins, knowing what he’s accomplished, for the very first time in a long time, I feel very confident this organization is going in the right direction"

Snider didn't like being asked when he decided Stefanski would stay: "When did I ever say he wasn’t the guy? He’s the general manager. He’s got two more years on his contract."

Peter Luukko on the Sixers' eight coaches in seven years: "That’s something we can’t have in this organization. That’s been very disappointing. You can’t create an identity for an organization with that much instability. That’s why bringing in a guy of Doug’s caliber, we expect him to be here for years."

I loved the D.Reid and Theo Ratliff draft story he discussed on Missanelli!s show. It tells me he has a half decent eye for diamonds in the rough. If Turner becomes a star and role players are needed to surround our core his imput may prove valuable.

His input? Something occurred to me today. I think I'm more apt to trust out GM now that we have a coach with experience and an eye for talent that worked for him in the past. If the 2 of them can work together as indicated today our GM shouldn't go anywhere.

Collins would like Iguodala to take 100 fewer 3-pointers and get to the foul line 100 more times next year. He also thinks Iguodala is capable of being a first-team All-NBA defender.

Collins on Iguodala in 2009-10: "I didn’t see that same hard edge that I saw the year before. I just didn’t see that tough, competitive edge. He can be very tough. To me, if he’s a quality defender at that 3 spot, that means we can get out and do what we do best. I want him to use his jumper, but I don’t want him to settle for jump shots because that’s not his biggest strength."

Well Doug, that's called ego and thinking you've arrived, when actually you haven't done squat. And he can be tough, but he can also be hardheaded when it comes to that jumper of his. Crack the whip on his ass too. All of 'em need it.

Collins on Williams and Speights' defense: "Lou can come in and score. I want him also to understand if we’re going to get him shots, I need something from the other end, as well. The same thing with Marreese. If you want to be able to play the last eight minutes of the game, you’ve got to be able to play the other end as well."

Does anyone besides me see an increased role for Rodney Carney next year? He plays good D, gets out in transition, and is a good spot up shooter. I think he could suprise some people next year with a coach like Collins. He can't create his own shot but he could keep the defense honest by helping out with spacing on the offensive end.

In the Eskin interview Doug talked about G.Shue showing him how to play off the ball, use screens, etc. . I thought Doug was a great off the ball player and my one fear with Turner is how effective he can be off the ball, well who better to teach him?

I recently found out about this site. I'm a huge basketball fan but I haven't searched out any online websites outside of ESPN. I was naturally thrilled about what's been happening with the sixers lately and couldn't wait to hear the buzz about them on ESPN. But all I get is Chad Fords bullshit. I found this website and was amazed at all the informed, lively discussion about the team. I've had a hard time convincing my casual nba friends that Jrue is going to be a legit starting point guard in this league. They just haven't watched enough games and only remember the talk about him coming out of college and the meager stats this year. I read the comments on here and it's already implied that Jrue is the future point guard and that he's going to be a good one. I love it. Keep up all the good work guys. I look forward to reading it and joining in the conversations.